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Beef Gravy

A savory beef gravy made by simmering beef with onion, spices, and bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Beef Gravy

Why it works: Allspice and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Beef Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut the beef into small pieces.

  2. Dust the beef with flour and mix well.

Make the gravy

  1. Place the beef in a saucepan and cover with water.

  2. Add the onion, allspice, pepper, and salt.

  3. Cover the saucepan and bring to a boil, skimming off any scum.

  4. Add the bread crust or bread crumbs and let it stew until the gravy is rich.

  5. Strain the gravy and pour it into a sauceboat.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + meattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,533 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chuck or neck beef
Provides the meat and connective tissue that give the gravy body and richness as it simmers.
Flour
Coats the beef pieces, helping to thicken the cooking liquid into a gravy.
Bread crust or bread crumbs
Adds body and helps thicken the gravy as it stews.

The step that matters

Skimming off scum after bringing to a boil. Foam and scum rising from the meat can cloud the gravy and give it an off flavour. Removing it as it forms keeps the liquid clearer and cleaner-tasting.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, flour, meat, onion, pepper, bread):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, flour, meat, onion, pepper, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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